Brihadisvara Temple

UNESCO World Heritage Site: Great Living Chola Temples (1987, Extended 2004) · Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu

The great temple of Thanjavur, built by the Chola king Rajaraja I and completed in 1010, and one of the supreme achievements of Indian architecture. Its granite tower, the vimana, rises about sixty-six metres over the sanctum and was for centuries among the tallest structures in India, capped by a single enormous stone. The courtyard is vast and calm, paved in stone and lined with cloisters of lingams, and a colossal Nandi bull carved from one rock faces the shrine. Chola frescoes survive under later paintings inside, and inscriptions on the walls record the temple's staff, its dancers and its endowments in detail. It is a World Heritage Site as one of the Great Living Chola Temples, with the temples at Gangaikonda Cholapuram and Darasuram, and the word living matters: it is still in daily worship, entry is free, and in the late afternoon families sit in the courtyard as the granite turns gold. Thanjavur itself is the old Chola capital, home to a palace, one of Asia's oldest libraries and the classic Tanjore bronzes and paintings.

Membalam Road, Balaganapathy Nagar, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, 613007, India

NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED; confirm before planning. The usual pattern is open daily from about 6 in the morning, with the sanctum closed from roughly 12:30 to 4 in the afternoon, and open again from about 4 until about 8:30 at night; the courtyard may remain accessible for part of the break. Entry is free. The Thanjavur Royal Palace, the Saraswathi Mahal Library and the art gallery keep their own daytime hours and may close on certain days or holidays. Festivals change timings. The traps: arriving in the afternoon closure, walking barefoot at midday in summer, and assuming the palace library keeps the palace's hours.

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